Reflection  ·  October 27, 2026

Tuesday Bible Course  ·  6:00 PM

Citizens of HEAVEN · Living on Earth

“LORD, what needs to be restored in me?”

Pastor Hector Boucet opened this Tuesday’s Bible Course where Sunday’s message left off. Sunday, the church heard how to keep the altar burning. Tuesday, Pastor Boucet brought the question home: before you ask GOD for something new, ask HIM what needs to be restored in you. Not in your neighbor. Not in the church down the road. In you. And not only ask — be willing to respond when HE tells you what it is.

Pastor Boucet took the church to 1 Kings 18:30-32, where Elijah repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down, took twelve stones for the tribes of Israel, and built an altar in the name of the LORD — before he ever prayed for fire. Israel’s problem was not that GOD had lost HIS power. Israel’s problem was that hearts had drifted. Something had to be repaired first.

1 Kings 18:30 (KJV)

A broken altar in a believer’s life has a look, Pastor Boucet said: prayerlessness. A weakened hunger for Scripture. Unresolved offenses. A life crowded with distractions — so many that you do not even need to leave your house to find them. We cannot manufacture revival, but we can respond to GOD through repentance. And repentance is not a feeling you wait for; it is a decision you make, again and again, when the HOLY SPIRIT raises the flag and says, MY son, what are you going to do?

The drift is slow, and that is what makes it dangerous. You used to pray seven days a week; now it is four. You used to read with hunger; now you skim. The enemy does not announce himself. He moves slowly, slowly, until one day you look back and realize you are not where you were. The way back is not complicated: notice it, name it, and turn.

Then Pastor Boucet turned to Revelation 2:2-5, the letter to the church of Ephesus. Ephesus had works. It had perseverance. It could not tolerate wicked people, and it had endured hardship for HIS name and had not grown weary. And still the LORD said: nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

Revelation 2:4-5 (KJV)

Do you remember when you first accepted JESUS? Do you remember that feeling — everything looked different? A retreat feels that way too: you do not want it to end. But the retreat ends, and then you are in the real world, on the battlefield. That is where first love is proven — not in the feeling, but in the returning. Remember how far you have fallen. Repent. And do the things you did at first.

Pastor Boucet named the trap plainly: routine without relationship. You can pray every day and still be on automatic — saying the words the way you blink your eyes, without a thought behind them. Praying does not by itself mean you have a relationship. The test is whether HE is speaking to you through HIS WORD, and whether you are listening. Nobody will force you to read it; you read it if you wish. But do not be surprised when the LORD asks, face to face, how you knew what HIS WORD said and still did otherwise.

— Pastor Hector Boucet

The way back runs through honesty. Psalm 139:23-24 prays it outright: search me, O GOD, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. And Romans 12:1-2 gives the offering: present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto GOD, and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Psalm 139:23-24 (KJV)

Pastor Boucet closed with a question to carry into the week: what practical steps will I take this week? Name them. Consistent time for prayer. A return to Scripture. Forgiveness. Removing a distraction. Obeying GOD in one area you have neglected. And the harder question underneath: what do I need to surrender? Write down three things if you can. Some you have tried to surrender for years, and it has felt almost impossible — but with HIM in your heart, there is absolutely nothing impossible to surrender. Believe it, declare it, and watch the change begin.

Pastor Boucet closed in prayer: Father, search our hearts and reveal it even more clearly. The restored church begins with people willing to let GOD work in their own hearts. So stop pointing fingers. Stop waiting for everyone else to change. Say it first: LORD, begin with me.

Restore the Altar: Returning to Our First Love is not a message to admire and forget. It is a message to answer — with an honest prayer, a named surrender, and a first work done again this week.

Reflect & Respond